Balwant Singh (1945 – 14 November 2010), popularly known as Ballu, was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player, considered a star of the India men's national volleyball team. His son Narender is a professional volleyball player who plays for the Indian volleyball Team. Kaul village panchayat also organised Balwant Singh Memorial tournament after his death in the village.

Biography

Balwant Singh was born in 1945 in the

Kaul village Kaul is a panchayat village in the Pundri tehsil of Kaithal district of Haryana, India. Earlier it formed part of the Kurukshetra and Karnal districts. Kaul is 38 km by road northwest of the city of Karnal, 32 km by road southwest of ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

state's

Kaithal district Kaithal district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana, state in northern India. Kaithal town is the district headquarters. The district occupies an area of 2317 km2. It has a population of 1,074,304 (2011 census). It is part of Karnal div ...

Sporting career

Singh was a tall, ungainly youth. His height was with correspondingly big hands and feet. He was from a modest background and joined the

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is India's border guarding organisation on its border with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) of India, and was raised in the wake of the 1965 war on 1 December 1 ...

(BSF) in Jalandhar, Punjab, which had a reputation for producing quality volleyball players at the time. In the mid-1960s and into the 1970s, he was responsible for helping Punjab achieve national success, and he was awarded the country's top sporting honor, the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

, in volleyball in 1972 for his excellent sportsmanship and contribution to the national team. Singh played for India in Asian Games of

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

, 1974, and 1978. He also played test matches for India in 1970, 1978 and 1980. The first National Volleyball Championship in which Singh took part was that of 1965, and he continued to play in the Nationals till 1988. Between 1968 and 1981,

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

won National Championships 10 times largely due to the performance of Singh. He participated in the All India Police Games from 1966 to 1990 representing Punjab Police and BSF.

Death and legacy

Singh ran a volleyball academy in Kaul, and a stadium was named after him. He died in November 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Balwant Indian men's volleyball players 2010 deaths Recipients of the Arjuna Award Volleyball players from Haryana People from Kaithal district Volleyball players at the 1974 Asian Games Volleyball players at the 1978 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India 1945 births